Hidden gems: 14 up-and-coming public schools in San Francisco

What's the trick to getting your kid into a public school in San Francisco?

That's easy. Don't get your heart set on the most popular school that's at the top of every parent's list.

Last year, Clarendon had roughly 94 applicants for each available spot (when seats taken by siblings who get top priority are excluded). That's a 1 percent acceptance rate, making SF's most-desired public school harder to get into than Stanford and Harvard. These highly sought-after schools, which also include Peabody, West Portal and Lawton, are often referred to as "rock star schools."

Your odds will shoot up if you focus on up-and-coming schools that are less-requested and not being touted by all the moms and dads around the park swings. While Clarendon had 1,624 total applicants, Bryant had only 149.

The real trick is identifying which of the less-popular schools are emerging with growing PTAs, strong leadership, improving test scores, exciting new programs. We reached out to the San Francisco Unified School District to help us identify those off-the-radar schools, and they provided us with the list above. The list includes 14 hidden gems and the qualities and programs that are putting these schools on the map.

Here's the thing: Scoring a spot at these schools might be easy this year, but in two years, getting in could be difficult.

San Francisco's public school process is notoriously unnerving, especially for parents looking for kindergarten. The district uses what it calls a "student assignment system" that allows parents to apply to any school in the district regardless of where they live. Parents can list as many schools as they like on their application and students are placed in their highest ranked choice as long as there are openings. When there are more requests than seats, a series of tiebreakers come into play. You're given priority if you have a sibling at the school or live within that school's attendance area.

Last year, 85 percent of families got one of their choices (though keep in mind that some parents are listing 20-plus schools with no intention of sending their child to anything beyond No. 10), and the remaining 15 percent were placed at a school not on their list.

Those families who don't like their assignments can continue to play the lottery, and I found myself in that situation eight years ago when I was applying to kindergarten for my daughter. We struck out and didn't receive an assignment at any of our choices in round 1, 2 and 3.

Over the summer, we still had no idea where our daughter would be going to kindergarten. I started touring lesser-known schools and stumbled upon Jose Ortega Elementary School, which was in its second year of offering a Mandarin immersion program. We were impressed by the principal, who had started at the school as a special ed teacher and knew every student by name. There were plenty of openings and we took a chance on a school with a PTA that had raised only $9,000 in the past school year. Two years later, the PTA was bringing in well over $50,000 and getting into the Mandarin program was difficult. My up-and-coming school had become a rock star.